Thanksgiving Dinner in the WFO

Since we didn't have any visitors this year for Thanksgiving, we decided
it was a good time experiment with cooking our turkey in the wood fired
oven. Turkey was small, about 8 pounds, and we brined it overnight in a
mixture that includes spices and apple cider. We also made Rosemary
Potatoes and Squash. Fist picture shows everything ready for the oven.




Next shot is the turkey after about 20 minutes, oven was at 500 degrees.
We covered the turkey with foil and then added the potatoes and squash

to cook for about another 45 minutes and everything turned out great.
Turkey stayed nice and moist and the potatoes were nicely browned- can't
comment on the squash but Donna seemed to like it!

Kitchen Cabinets Started

Donna and I hung the kitchen cabinets on Tuesday, no real problems other
than the lazy susan unit for the corner doesn't have sides so will have
to make something up for the side that will face the stove. Countertops
are next!

Flooring Finished

Here are a few more pictures of the flooring after the 3 coats of
polyurethane were applied. Looks really good, ignore the dusty
footprints, lol.

Looking towards kitchen

View towards hall and bedrooms

From dining area towards front of house

Porch Ceiling Finished

Donna and I took advantage of the relatively mild weather on Thursday
and Friday to put up the ceiling in the porch. We did the ceiling in
pine, tongue and groove planks. You can also see the vents to allow
circulation in the attic- there will be another set of vents like these
in the soffit on the back of the house. No pictures from that work but
we did get the soffit wood up as well and are ready for the vents. We 
also finished the facia boards on the front and back so we get the
gutters installed soon.

Porch Ceiling Completed

After trim completed on front of house

View from road

Flooring Install & Finish

Mike Butler is here this week to install and finish the flooring in the guesthouse. Here are some pictures of the install and a shot after the first coat was applied. There will be 3 coats of finish when he's done.

One of the fun things about building this house has been the chance to meet so many of the local business owners and some of the people that work with them.I've had some really interesting conversations along the way about everything from politics to sports to the economy- it's pretty easy to say that my views are probably not fully in synch with a lot of what's been said but the conversations were always enjoyable anyway and I learned a bit and passed on a bit.

BTW- here's a link to a YouTube video that shows Mike (who did the floors) and a song that he wrote- a talented guy and thought it was worth sharing.

 Mike Butler Charm City

First Board

Chad working on front half of room

Mike almost finished

First coat applied

Bathrooms Finished

Another busy week working on the guesthouse. We were able to get the
vanities and tops set in both bathrooms and all the plumbing connected.
The hot water tank is working as well. Here are a couple of pictures of
the bathroom along with one of the living room where I laid some tile in
the foyer. The area is about 3 1/2' wide so should make it easier to
step in and out without having to step right on to the hardwood floor.
The boxes in the picture are the flooring, ready for install starting on
Monday morning. Will spread the grout on the tile today so it's
completed before the wood floor goes on- will try to get a better
picture once I'm done.

Hall Bath

Master Vanity

Living Room, tile laid, ready for flooring

Painting & Lights

Pictures show a few of the rooms with the painting completed and the

lights/fans installed. We have a couple of lights left to do over the

bathroom vanities once they are in place. Put valves on the toilet and

faucet connections in the two bathrooms and put down vinyl flooring in

one of the rooms. Today, we'll check for leaks and if okay, go ahead and

try to get at least one of the bathrooms working. Will do the utility

room flooring after that so I can get the hot water heater hooked up and

ready to use.

Living Room

Front Bedroom

Main Bedroom

Plans are to finish up the electric, plumbing, and flooring this week so

we're ready for the hardwood floors to be installed next Monday (11/18).

We picked out carpeting for the two bedrooms yesterday at Lowes and

should have someone here to measure this week and get that order

finished up. If all goes as planned, we should be putting in the kitchen

cabinets the week of Thanksgiving with the carpeting to follow soon

after. There will be plenty of small items like working out an internet

connection and tv but that can come later.

More as we progress with the baths and utility room this week.

Moon & Venus

As I was walking back from the guesthouse last night, had a nice view of

the Moon and Venus in the southwest sky above the observatory- here are
a couple of pictures. Venus is just above the cloud below and to the left from the moon.

Interior Painting Completed

Living Arew with pre-painted baseboard

Painters finished up the painting inside the guesthouse yesterday
afternoon- looks good. Here's a picture of the living room area and all
the baseboards ready for use. We'll store these out of the way for now
and I'll plan to put them up when the floors are completed.

Now that the painting is done, we can start installing all the electric
and plumbing fixtures and put down the vinyl flooring in the bathrooms.
Hardwood flooring and wood for the porch ceiling will be delivered early
next week so plenty of work to do now.

Scones from the Oven

On Sunday morning, we used the residual heat from the outdoor oven to
bake scones. These were from a mix from King Arthur Flour. They are
supposed to be made using heavy cream but we used heavy whipping cream
instead and they came out nice and light. Donna and I shared a couple
freshly baked outside by the fire- a nice morning.

Fall Colors

Seems the colors are finally arriving- took this one last night. Looks like the orange is just a day or two late!

Interior Painting Started

 

Painters were here and applied the prime coat of paint throughout the
guesthouse. This will also be the final ceiling color. They should be
back sometime next week to complete the job.

Siding Progress

We made a lot of progress this week on the siding- we finished the last wall yesterday. We still have the soffits to do on a couple of sides along with the trim but the walls are at least covered. Here's a picture of the final side after we finished it yesterday afternoon.

Siding Completed

Raining here today so will get a break. Hoping the painters will be here today- they have been delayed on another job so we're a few days behind the plan. Have a bathroom vanity to pick up at Lowes so will make that my project for the day.